Measures Misunderstood
by Sailor Red
Summary: Shounen Ai, Angsty Taito, some humor thrown in for relief. Chapter 9 is up!
1. Chapter 1

Title: Measures Misunderstood  

Author: Sailor Red

E-Mail Address: Sailor_Red@yahoo.com

Rating: PG-13

Fandom: Digimon

Pairings: Taito/Yamachi (Taichi+Yamato/Yamato+Taichi)

Genre: Romance/ Angst (Do I write anything else?)

Disclaimer: Digimon doesn't belong to me. Suing me will get you diapers, and I don't mean clean ones . . .

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He was there and then he was gone. Countless times Taichi had dreamed this dream, every time getting closer to the one he chased, and every time missing him by the slightest sliver of empty space. The funny thing was that he didn't know who he was chasing, or why. The person in his dream was always hidden in shadow, always shrouded just enough that Taichi couldn't make out the figure's identity. 

It was always the same dream. A door would slam and he would open it and chase someone through the streets of Odaiba. He would weave through masses of faceless people, knock over a few, apologize, and continue his chase. Finally, he'd corner his mystery person in an alley and grab for him, only for the person to vanish into thin air.

Every time he had this dream he woke up screaming, drenched in sweat, and crying so hard he couldn't breathe. Every time, Hikari would run into his room and to his side to comfort him. When he had finally calmed down, they would engage in the same conversation.

"Was it that dream again?" Hikari would ask quietly, still holding her brother, still trying to calm him. 

"Yeah." Taichi would reply and remove himself from his sister's arms to walk to his bedroom window. He'd sit on the sill and stare outside until Hikari would eventually leave the room, shaking her head.

However, today was different.

"Tai, this has got to stop." Taichi turned to his sister and stared at her.

"How do you suppose I make it, Kari? Should I stop sleeping?" He asked with venom-lined lips as he got up and walked over to the young woman. She narrowed her eyes and clenched her fists, willing herself to look him in the eye and shout:

"Maybe you should see a psychiatrist!"

"Oh, so now I'm crazy!" Hikari shook her head and took her brother's hand, which he immediately ripped away.

"No, Taichi, I don't think you're crazy. Look, obviously something's bothering you subconsciously. Maybe if you did a little soul searching you'd find out what that thing is. There's someone you're obviously afraid of losing, for whatever reason, and there's something inside yourself protecting you from knowing who that person is. You've got to figure it out, or you _are_ going to go insane." Taichi stared at his sister in shock. He sighed and put his hand to his head, and rubbed his temples as if he were trying to stave off an awful headache. 

"You're probably right. I shouldn't have yelled at you. Sorry." Hikari smiled.

"Yeah, well I'm sorry for yelling too. I just hate seeing you like this, Tai!"

"I know. I hate being like this. I just wish that dream would stop."

"It's not going to just stop, Tai. This has been going on and off for years now, ever since you had that fight with . . ." Hikari's eyes widened, and Taichi regarded her quizzically.

"What's going through your head, Kari?" Hikari opened her mouth to say something, and then closed it, having thought better of her comment. She bit her lip nervously.

"Kari . . ."

"When's the last time you talked to Matt?" She blurted out, and then slapped her hand over her mouth. Taichi glared at her coldly.

"Why are you bringing _him_ into this?" 

"I-I think . . ." Hikari took one look at her brother's angry, hurt expression and closed her mouth, sighed through her nose, and walked out of his room.

Taichi laid himself down on his bed and tried to swallow the sorrow that threatened to spill out of him. How long _had_ it been since he had last talked to Yamato? Was it one year? Two? He had stopped counting ages ago. 

Although he had lost track of the time that had passed, he had not forgotten the argument that they had. How could he, after all? It was something too important to forget, and too horrible to forgive.

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"Seki asked me out." Yamato nearly choked on his lunch at Taichi's comment, and grabbed for his milk to drink and stop his coughing. 

"What . . . Tai, he's . . . well he's a he!" The brunette sighed and calmly took another bite of his sandwich. He looked at Yamato, chewed thoughtfully, and swallowed.

"So?" Yamato's eyes widened.

"You . . . you're gay?" The blonde asked in shock, a little to loudly, as someone at the table next to them overheard and whispered to the person next to him. Then, that person told the next person, and within minutes, the whole cafeteria was buzzing with the new gossip. Taichi glared at Yamato.

"Say it a little louder next time, will you? I want all of Japan to know, after all. It's not like it's a _secret_ or anything." Yamato, having realized what he had just done, bowed his head and sighed. 

"Tai . . ."

"Thanks a lot, Matt."

"I didn't mean to . . ." 

"Don't bother. Go to hell, Yamato." Yamato's head shot up at that comment and he stared at Taichi in disbelief. 

"It was a mistake, Tai! I didn't mean to out you to everyone! You just surprised me!"

"It's a mistake you can't ever fix. Now everyone knows about me and Seki." Taichi watched as something flashed in Yamato's eyes and then disappeared. It was something the spiky haired brunette couldn't place.

"Y-you _are_ going out with him?" Brown eyes glared at blue.

"Yeah, I am. Is there a problem?" Yamato opened his mouth to say something, but only shook his head. Before Taichi could say anything else, Yamato picked up his tray and left the table, then walked out of the cafeteria entirely. 

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Taichi shot up in bed, and wiped a tear from his eye. He hadn't remembered falling asleep, but he recalled clearly the dream that had waked him. Not a dream, in actuality, rather a memory. The tear that had been wiped away was quickly replaced by another, and then another. 

He was not crying out of anger this time. Nor was he crying out of fear or hatred. 

He was mourning his loss. He was made distraught by the sheer stupidity of the fight that had lost him his best friend. The fresh perspective that time gave made him want to curl up into a ball and disappear. 

Taichi now realized that Yamato didn't mean to blurt out Taichi's secret. In retrospect, telling Yamato about Seki really wasn't necessary, as the couple had broken up not even a month later, deciding to instead be friends. However, Taichi never should have told Yamato about Seki in such a public setting and in such a surprising way. He should have known from experience that most people react with shock at such a revelation.  

There was one thing still nagging at him, however. It was the one thing that he was finding himself unable to rationalize in his head. 

Yes, Taichi hadn't made any attempt to talk to Yamato over the years, but why hadn't Yamato tried to talk to Taichi? 

They were still in school together, still going to graduate in the same ceremony this year, and they were even in the same English class. 

Was Yamato angry with him? Was he waiting for Taichi to apologize? Was he too prideful to apologize to Taichi? Was he scared? Or, could it be the worst thing Taichi could think:

Was Yamato a homophobe? 

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"Hey sexy." Taichi slammed his locker shut and glared at Seki. Seki grinned toothily at him, unfazed, and sighed; pushing blonde locks past emerald eyes. 

"Did little Tai-Tai not sleep well last night?" Taichi shook his head.

"What was your first clue, Seki, the rings under my eyes or the attempted murder of my combination lock?" 

"Both, simultaneously. So, what's up? Is the man getting you down?" Taichi cocked an eyebrow at his ex-boyfriend turned friend, who continued his insane smile. Taichi rolled his eyes.

"Not _the_ man, but definitely _a_ man." Taichi could nearly see Seki's ears perk to attentiveness.

"Ooh, gossip! Do tell!" The brunette digidestined had to laugh at his ex.

"God, you're _so _gay!" Seki's grin widened.

"Well, yeah! So, spill! Who's this guy you're thinking about?"

"It's not what you think."

"Sure." Taichi rolled his eyes.

"It's not! It's just . . ." Seki looked at Taichi, concerned. The mirth faded from his eyes. 

"Tai, do you want to talk about this somewhere else? It's kind of crowded in the hall . . ."

"No." Taichi sighed. "It's okay. I just, well, I've found myself missing an old friend." 

Seki's eyes widened.

"An old friend? Are we talking about _the_ old friend?" He lowered his voice to a whisper. "The blonde musician old friend?" Taichi nodded after looking around and making sure no one had overheard.

"That's the one." Seki frowned.

"Tai-chan . . ." Taichi shook his head and forced a laugh.

"Didn't I tell you to stop calling me that years ago?" 

"Don't change the subject, Tai." Seki sighed. "Maybe you should talk to him . . . I mean, he could just think that you're still mad at him or something . . ."

". . . Or he could be a homophobe." Taichi finished Seki's sentence, and watched his green eyed friend's head sink. 

"Tai, I love you man, but I think you're a little paranoid. I mean, he seems a pretty open-minded guy to me!" 

Taichi was about to respond, but was interrupted by the look in Seki's eyes. It was a look he had seen before, many times. There was a certain mischievous glimmer that Taichi didn't trust.

"What's going through your head . . ."

"Taichi . . . someday you'll forgive me for what I am about to do." Seki mockingly bowed, then head butted him in the stomach. Taichi sprawled backward and knocked several people over. 

"S-seki! I'm going to kill you! What the hell was that all about?" Seki just smiled and cocked his head to the right, as if to say: 'look.'

Taichi turned his gaze to the side and found himself face to face with Yamato. 

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"S-Sorry." Taichi managed to force out, and Yamato's eyes widened. "Seki, he . . . well he's a lunatic." 

"Could you get off me?"  Taichi blushed a deep shade of crimson and scrambled to his feet. Why he was blushing, he didn't know. He just hoped Yamato hadn't noticed. It didn't seem that he had, as the blonde was busy picking up a book he had dropped. 

Taichi instinctively held out his hand to help Yamato up, and to Taichi's surprise, Yamato actually took it. 

"Thanks." The blonde said simply, and started walking towards his next class.

"Mat --- err, Yamato!" Yamato stopped, but did not turn around. 

"Do – um, would you like to talk, after school, maybe?" Taichi asked and stared pleadingly at the back of Yamato's head. Yamato sighed and replied with a slight crack in his voice.

"Y-yeah  Tai, I'd like that." Taichi's mouth went slack with shock. "I have to get to class."

With that, Yamato ran off. However, he was not going to his next class. Taichi knew this because his next class was English, the one class the two shared, and the door had been behind Taichi. Yamato had run in the other direction, towards the lavatory. 

Naturally, Taichi followed him. 

As soon as Taichi opened the door to the rest room, Yamato turned around and saw him.

"You're still predictable. Couldn't pass up an opportunity to skip class, huh?" Taichi didn't laugh; all he could see was that Yamato's eyes were red and puffy. The blonde had been crying, and actually, still was doing so. 

Taichi didn't think. He walked over to his old friend and gave him a hug.

"I'm sorry, Matt." Yamato hiccupped and cried harder.

"It's been two years, Tai. That's way too long for us to be fighting. I really didn't mean to do what I did, and then you started avoiding me, and, well . . ." Taichi released Yamato and looked at the floor.

"I wasn't trying to avoid you, Matt, I just thought . . . I thought you were disgusted with me. I thought you hated me because of what I am."

"That's not it, Tai. I could never hate you, for any reason . . . I just . . . lets just say I hate Seki." Taichi's eyes widened. 

"W-why do you hate Seki? He's a good guy, Matt!" Yamato sighed and shook his head.

"Whatever, Tai. I'll talk to you after school. I'm going to get to class. You coming?" 

Taichi nodded and the two digidestined walked in silence, both knowing that this was going to be one _long_ school day.

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TBC ASAP

More reviews, faster posts!

Thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

Measures Misunderstood

By Sailor Red

Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Digimon still doesn't belong to me, nothing has changed in the course of a week.

A.N. I would have had this up sooner, but my man brought FFX-2 home with him the day after I posted chapter one, and I got a little distracted. Sorry for the delay.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed, I really appreciate it. It was good to see some names that I recognized from reviews on my last Taito, and wonderful to see some new names as well. Arigatou.

Oh, and a warning, there's some very slight Mimi bashing in here. Sorry, but I couldn't help it.

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They were to meet by Taichi's locker at two thirty. Taichi looked to the wall clock and scowled. It was only twelve past twelve, two hours and eighteen minutes to go. Taichi sighed and looked down at his blank piece of paper, hovering his pencil over it and pretending to take notes. Soon the lunch bell would ring and he would be free for twenty minutes. He'd be free from taking notes and guessing answers and . . . 

"Tai, the bell rang." Taichi nearly jumped out of his seat. Well, it appeared he wouldn't be free from Seki.

"I-I knew that. Hey, am I supposed to be talking to you?" Seki frowned in mock pain.

"Oh, but _Tai_! _Darling_! I was only trying to help!" The green-eyed man pouted and pretended to cry, then completely changed his expression and smiled widely.

"So, did it work? Are you talking to him?" Taichi rolled his eyes.

"Yeah." Seki smiled even wider and clapped his hands giddily.

"Oh goody!" The brown haired digidestined shook his head.

"God, my ex is a male version of Mimi. Shoot me. Shoot me now."

"Who's Mimi?"

"Old friend, valley girl, moved to America . . . can we go have lunch now?"

"What? You think I'm a valley girl? Oh God, gods, Buddha! Strike me down now! My old boy-toy thinks me a woman! Oh, woe is I!" Taichi regarded Seki quizzically.

"Done with the melodrama?" The blonde smiled.

"Yup! Lets eat! Hurry Tai-man, to the lunch mobile! I need my squishy chicken patty!"  

"You're insane." Seki smiled.

"I know. Race you?" Taichi grinned mischievously and nodded, then watched Seki run down the hall until crashing into a teacher stopped him. 

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Ah, lunch: that wonderful, unidentifiable, school lunch. It wasn't the food, it was the buying of it, looking at it, and making fun of it. Following that was seeing how long it would take to forget that it tasted about as good as it looked, and it looked like a brown potato-chicken-corn something that had been shoveled out of a street by some guy named Buck.

Taichi was almost hungry enough to eat when Seki plopped down in front of him and glared. Taichi cringed, dropping his fork. The green-eyed man was definitely not faking his anger this time.

"I just got a weeks detention." He said plainly and pouted. 

"You're mad because I didn't race with you and get myself detention with you?" Seki opened his mouth and then shut it. He sighed.

"That's not fair Tai, I want to be mad at you right now."

"It wasn't _my_ idea to run through the halls." 

"Oh poopie. I just can't be mad . . . you weren't about to eat that, were you?" Taichi blushed and shook his head. Seki frowned in disgust.

"Dude! You were! That's sick!" 

"Well, I'm hungry. I skipped dinner and breakfast . . ."

"Well, I'm _hungry! _Check the apple for wormholes, make sure it's safe, and eat _that_. You're a senior Tai, you should know the rules of school lunches by now!" 

Taichi merely stuck his tongue at Seki, took a bite of the apple, and choked on it. He had just seen Yamato enter the cafeteria. 

Seki made such a big scene out of hammering Taichi on the back to stop his choking that soon everyone was turning his or her heads to see what was going on.

This included Yamato, who took one look at what was happening and started running towards the scene, knocking over chairs and climbing over tables in the process. The next thing he knocked over was Seki, pushing him out of the way so that the sapphire-eyed man could perform the Heimlich. After thirty or so seconds that seemed an eternity, the offending chunk of apple flew across the room and into the hair of a cheerleader. 

Taichi fell to his knees coughing, and Yamato rounded on Seki.

"What the _hell_ were you thinking?" 

"Wha-what?"

"You never, _ever_ hit someone on the back when they're choking! When they're coughing, maybe but not . . ."

"Yamato." Taichi tried to interrupt.

"… not when they're choking! What if he had . . . you're an idiot!"

"Matt! That's enough!" The brunette finally yelled, and Yamato finally stopped. "Seki didn't know, okay, so leave him alone." The bearer of friendship turned to Taichi, still angry.

"Look Tai, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have helped you out. I should have just let your best friend here help you die." 

"Oh, so now we're going to start another fight huh? We make up for what?" Taichi glanced at his watch. "Four hours? What the hell is your problem?" Yamato stopped and stared at the brunette. 

"Shit." He muttered under his breath. "Tai, I'm sorry . . . I just, well, I just freaked out. I mean, you really could've _died_ . . ."

"Well, I didn't. So why don't you sit down and have lunch with me and Se . . ." Yamato grimaced. 

"No way, Tai. Not with . . . forget it."

"Again, Matt, what is your problem?"

"We'll talk about it after school, remember?" Yamato scowled and shook his head, then walked off. Taichi threw up his hands in exasperation, and turned to help Seki up and off of the floor.

"Stupid, jealous little pri . . ." Seki started muttering until Taichi interrupted.

"You say something, Seki?" The emerald-eyed man put his hands on his hips and looked to Taichi.

"Yeah, I did. I called him a stupid, jealous little prick. Sorry Tai, but that's the way I see it." Taichi stared at Seki like he'd just told him all the numbers of pi and asked him to remember them. 

"Jealous? What would Matt be jealous of?" 

"He-_llo_! Yagami, is your brain in there? At the very least he's jealous of our friendship." Taichi furrowed his brow. 

"What do you mean, 'at the very least?'"

"Don't tell me you don't know!" Seki asked, eyes wide. Taichi shook his head.

"Know what?"

"You really don't know?" he whispered.

"For the love of god, Seki! Just tell me what the hell you're talking about!"

"Dude, Yamato . . . Yamato's gay, man." Taichi's world seemed to freeze. He thought for an instant that he was choking again, as the next breath he was taking seemed to not want to come. He stared in blank shock, his jaw slack, until Seki started waving his hand in front of Taichi's face. 

"Taichi . . . hey Tai . . . you okay?" Taichi's mouth opened and closed but no words came out.

"Hey Tai, you're not choking again, are you?"

"N-no . . . S-seki, what makes you say Matt's . . ."

"Gay?" Taichi cringed. Seki could be so blunt sometimes!

"Yeah . . ."

"Well . . . it was in the school newspaper last year. . . apparently he was going out with his drummer or something. Oh, and I saw him kissing that guy . . . what's his name . . . kinda looks a tiny bit like you, couple years younger . . ." Taichi's eyes widened in what looked outwardly like horror.

"D-daisuke! He fucking kissed _Davis_?" Seki burst out laughing.

"Tai . . . man, you should see the look on your face . . . you are _so_ jealous!" Taichi shook his head like he had just heard the most ridiculous thing in the world.

"What? Why would I be jealous of Matt?"

"Not jealous of Yamato, hun, jealous of Daisuke." 

"I'm still lost."

"Oh my God Tai! You're hopeless! Here, let me spell it out for you . . . ready? You and Yamato, right . . ."

"Yeah?" Taichi asked, still not getting what Seki was trying to tell him. Seki looked at him incredulously. 

"Tai, you can't be this stupid! Yamato likes you man, and I think you like him."

"Well, yeah, we . . . we were best friends . . ." Seki stared at him in utter disbelief. Finally, Taichi's eyes widened in realization.

"Oh! You think Matt wants me more like a . . ." He looked at Seki, who was motioning Taichi to go on with his thought. "You think Matt likes me likes me? Romantically?"

"Bingo! Taichi gets a purple star." 

"Seki, you're insane! I mean we haven't had a full conversation in years!" The green-eyed man rolled his aforementioned eyes.

"Why else do you think you two would be able to make up from your fight so quickly. If you told me the truth, you two apologized to each other and were hugging not five minutes later." 

"I still think you're crazy, man."

"Taichi . . . listen . . . you and Yamato . . . you're not friends. You're also not enemies or lovers. He's also more important to you to be merely an acquaintance. Right now, he's quite frankly, not your best friend. So what is he Taichi?" Seki sighed.

"Tai, what makes Yamato affect you so much that you nearly choke to death when he enters a room?" An epiphany hit Taichi.

"I . . . I think I have a . . ." He growled and whined to Seki. "Seki! Why the hell didn't you warn me I was getting a crush on Matt?"

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TBC

A.N. Sorry there was so much dialogue in this chapter, but there were a lot of things I wanted said. Also, I apologize that it's so short! Well, short for me, anyway. Usually I won't post until I have at least 2000 words written, but I needed to get this up! I've made you wait almost a week! -_-; Ah well. Check my author's page for my update schedule if you want to know when the next chappie is up. Love you all!

Ja ne! 


	3. Chapter 3

Measures Misunderstood

Chapter 3

By Sailor Red

A.N. I apologize wholeheartedly for last chapter. It was just _bad._ Only when I had reread the chapter two days after I had posted it, did I realize . . . I wrote that chapter the way I started out writing five years ago. This chapter is much better, I promise! If you're still here reading, I am forever in your good graces. -_-;

My eternal thanks go to Neo-chan, redvind, and sillie, who are the three people this chapter is dedicated to. Thank you for your support. 

Finally, I'd like to let everyone reading know that I have another fic in the works. The first chapter will be up closer to Christmas. It's not a holiday fic, exactly, but the first chapter will involve the Christmas season. It's called "Janken." Look out for it! ^_^

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"I . . . I think I have a . . ." Taichi growled and whined to Seki. "Seki! Why the hell didn't you warn me I was getting a crush on Matt?"

Taichi burst out laughing and Seki regarded him quizzically.

"Tai? Have you gone loony?" Taichi clawed at his sides, nearly falling to the floor in his giggle fit. 

"Really, Seki . . . how can you think I have a crush on Matt? I mean, the idea's absolutely . .  . well, it's crazy is what it is!" Seki stared at Taichi and patiently waited for the brunette to stop laughing.

"Taichi, I'm serious." The smile fell from Taichi's face and he frowned.

"Well, you're wrong. Besides, Matt and I wouldn't work. We're just too . . . different." Seki sighed and rolled his eyes. 

"Look Tai, just keep an open mind. You'd be a really cute couple. Don't dismiss the idea right away . . . Oh, and the bell rang a minute ago, so we really should go back to class." 

Taichi simply smiled and shook his head, then made his way out of the cafeteria.

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It was two thirty, school was over, and Taichi leaned against his locker, tapping his foot impatiently. Where the hell was Yamato? 

The brunette didn't have to wonder long, as the bearer of friendship came into his view, walking briskly down the hall. Taichi smiled at his incoming friend and waved. 

"Hey." Yamato said simply upon reaching Taichi's position, and then motioned the bearer of courage to walk with him. 

They made their way out of the school grounds and started towards the direction of Taichi's home, walking in silence for the first few blocks. 

Taichi snuck quick glances at his blonde friend, as Yamato did nothing but look forward and walk. The sapphire-eyed boy seemed to be deep in thought and having some sort of massive internal struggle. Taichi finally realized what the problem was: Yamato didn't seem to know what to say.

Taichi realized, to his chagrin, he himself was at a loss for words. 

Finally, after moments that seemed like hours, Taichi spoke up.

"It's been a while, huh?" The blonde jumped at the break in the silence and looked to the spiky haired boy. 

"U-uh, yeah . . ." Taichi sighed, mentally and sarcastically thanking Yamato for his extraordinary communication skills. 

"So, what's new?" Yamato smiled weakly at the brunette, and exhaled deeply.

"Well . . . not much actually. Same old stuff: band, boys, and booze." Taichi stopped mid-stride.

"Matt, that's not the same old stuff! When'd you start all that?" Yamato visibly gulped.

"I've always been involved with music, Tai." He said nervously biting his lip.

"Not that! The other two things." The brunette mumbled and continued walking. 

"Boys and booze? It's just a saying, really. I'm not a drunken slut or anything if that's what you're thinking." Taichi shook his head quickly.

"No, no! That's not what I meant." Yamato gave Taichi a look that asked: 'Well, what exactly did you mean?,' however he did not vocalize it. 

"I'm sorry Matt, I just . . . well, I only just found out you were, you know . . . gay." Taichi trailed off and was surprised when Yamato burst out laughing.

"You've got to be kidding me, Tai! It was all over the school! God, you're still as dense as you always were, huh?" Taichi had to crack a smile.

"Yeah, I guess so." Yamato stopped his snickering. 

"I'm sorry Tai, I didn't mean to laugh at you, I just . . ." The blonde sighed. "So, to change the subject and curb my embarrassment, how goes the love life?" 

"It doesn't." Taichi shrugged. "I haven't seen anyone since Seki. I don't seem to have the time or energy." He smiled. "How about you Matt?"

"Nada." Taichi raised his eyebrows at this. Hadn't Seki said something about Daisuke?

"Really? I heard something otherwise." Yamato laughed.

"Oh yeah, what nasty little rumor's been flying around now?"

"You messing around with younger men, Yamato? Like, oh, I dunno . . . Daisuke?" Yamato looked at Tai and burst out laughing. 

"You should ask Hikari about that, it's her fault." Taichi wrinkled his forehead, confused.

"Huh?" Yamato sighed and shook his head in amusement.

"Well, okay, I'll tell you. We were all at Daisuke's house last week for his birthday party, so like every party we have, there was truth or dare."

"Kari told me about that, she said she had a blast."

"Yeah, well, your darling sister decided to dare me to kiss Daisuke in front of the entire school in revenge for me daring her to kiss Takeru." Yamato laughed. "Yeah, they were both really pissed at me. Takeru on his turn later on, made me throw on Daisuke's "Chicken Hut" Chicken costume and profess my love to Sora, Mimi, and Miyako. I had to do it complete with clucks: amusing now, embarrassing then." 

Taichi burst out laughing. 

"The great Ishida Yamato forced to wear a chicken costume and beg three girls for their love? Oh god, that's rich." Taichi was in near hysterics and Yamato simply looked at him with a smirk.

"Yeah. Takeru takes after me a lot, surprisingly. He's one tricky kid behind that innocent smile. You learn to watch your back."

"Apparently not until you have to wear a chicken suit, in your case, ne?" Yamato smiled.

"Yeah, I guess not." 

Once again, silence reigned, albeit more out of comfort than not. Taichi took in the sight of Yamato as if for the first time, noting with satisfaction the way he walked: hands in pockets and back straight. He looked more intelligent, more confident than last Taichi had spent time with the blonde. He wore his clothes like a mannequin would, perfectly flaunting his slightly toned frame. Not a single wrinkle marred his clothes; not a single strand of hair was out of place. He looked almost unreal in his perfection, so much so that Taichi found himself staring.

"What are you looking at?" Taichi jumped in surprise, shaking his head to try and snap out of the trance he had been in. 

"N-nothing!" He said a bit too quickly. "I was just thinking."

"About?" Yamato wore an amused smirk and mischievously dancing eyes. It was almost as if he was hiding some private joke. 

"Well, um, that is . .  ." Taichi sighed. He knew better than to lie to Yamato; the blonde had an uncanny knack with reading his brunette friend. "I was just noticing how much you had changed." Yamato raised an eyebrow and looked down at himself in confusion.

"I changed? How?" Taichi blushed and wondered to himself why he reacted the way he had. How was he to answer that question?

"Well . . ." The brunette started without certainty. "You just look different." He said and resisted the urge to slap himself in the head. That had been a stupid answer!

"Oh." Yamato looked thoughtful. "Different in a bad way?"

"No!" Yamato laughed.

"Tai, you're acting weird." Taichi smirked and rubbed the back of his head nervously. He _was_ acting weird, and he couldn't for the life of him figure out why. Why was Yamato affecting him this way? Could it be that . . . 

No, there was no way that Seki could have been right. Speaking of which . . . 

"Hey Matt, why do you hate Seki so much? You told me that you'd tell me." Yamato visibly stiffened. 

"No reason."

"You don't hate someone without a reason, Matt." Yamato faked a laugh.

"I can if I want, and I will." Taichi rolled his eyes.

"Oh, come on, you can tell me. As I said before, he's not a bad guy." Taichi looked to his blonde friend to see him biting his lip. It was as if he was trying to keep himself from saying something and that the only way to do so was to lock his jaw shut. 

"Come on, man! Do you know something about him that I don't or something? Why is he so . . ."

"He took you away from me." Taichi felt as if the world had stopped. Finding himself unable to move, he simply stared at Yamato's retreating back until the bearer of friendship realized that his brunette friend was no longer following him. The blonde then turned, slowly, as if the earth would crumble beneath him if he turned too quickly. 

"W-what did you say?" Yamato bit his lip again and looked to his side, unconsciously fiddling with the corner of his shirt.

"N-nothing . . ." Taichi decided to drop it . . . for now.

"Look, we're a block away from my house. Why don't we go in and talk there."

"I should really . . ."

"Matt, we have to talk about this. Or, we could wait, but I think you should at least get a drink or something before you head home. I know I could use one." Yamato sighed and nodded, and Taichi let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. 

Taichi had to find out what Yamato meant by his statement. The brunette had no idea as to why said statement had affected him so much, but he knew that he needed to find out. There was something tugging at his subconscious, something that his heart was trying to tell him that his mind just didn't seem to want to comprehend. It was driving him mad!

Or, was it just Yamato that had been driving him crazy. The blonde had been acting kind of strangely; Taichi had dismissed it as discomfort or uncertainty in the beginning, but now he wasn't so sure. 

The only thing that Taichi was sure of was that Yamato was hiding something and, so help him god, he was going to find out what that something was. 

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TBC

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AN Alright, I will be updating this fic with the next chapter on or before the 8th. Hopefully, I'll be able to get it up a lot sooner than the eighth, simply because I'd like to finish this fic before I start "Janken." Well, I have to go, the baby's crying.

Please R&R! I beg you! -_-; 


	4. Chapter 4

Measures Misunderstood

Chapter 4

By Sailor Red

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Taichi found himself at a loss for words. 

The two had made it to the brown haired boy's house, and Yamato, instead of talking to Taichi and elaborating on his previous comment, made a beeline for the fridge to grab a soda. It was pretense, really. The blonde wasn't truly thirsty, but found the action an adequate excuse to delay an inevitable conversation. 

The sapphire-eyed boy was slow to open the canned beverage he had selected, and even slower to take the first sip. He knew once he had completed this task he would no longer have his excuse not to talk. Once he took that first sip, he could no longer claim to be thirsty, and thus he would have no more reason for silence. 

Yamato could feel Taichi's eyes boring into the back of his head; the tension in the room could slice hairs. The blonde wanted to turn, but felt he could not. He had said something that he had not meant to say, and was fumbling desperately for some sort of intricate lie to cover up his folly.

"So." Taichi spoke and Yamato felt himself tense. His hand gripped the can he held; the aluminum protested with an abnormal volume. It was too quiet in the room, so quiet that the humming refrigerator seemed to have the motor of a five-liter Mustang. 

"What exactly did you mean . . ." Taichi paused, taking a deep breath. "What did you mean when you said that Seki took me away from you?" 

Yamato turned to his best friend opened his mouth to speak, and then having thought better of it, took another sip of his soda. The blonde sighed and shook his head, then looked to his feet as if his shoes could give him a better answer than his brain would. 

Taichi narrowed his eyes. He then stalked angrily to his blue-eyed friend and eased the soda can out of Yamato's hand. 

"Yamato." Taichi said calmly, softly. "Answer me."

"I . . ." The blonde raised his head to meet Taichi's eyes, and found he had lost his nerve.

"Okay Matt, why don't we just start from the beginning then. Why do you hate Seki?" 

"Because!" Yamato exclaimed loudly.

"'Because' is not an answer, Matt."

"Fine, Tai. If you have to be so goddamned stubborn about this, then I'll tell you." Yamato sighed and looked away from his brown-haired friend. 

"I don't like Seki because back when we had our little fight, you chose him over me." Taichi's jaw dropped.

"What do you mean?"

"You decided that you were going to go out with Seki, yet you became angry with me when I accidentally let the rest of the school know that you were gay. It's just that . . ." Yamato exhaled loudly. "The fact that you're gay would have come out if my mistake had happened or not. Seki was as openly gay then as he is now, and the kids at school would have figured it out in no time." Yamato breathed deeply. "Yet, despite that, you never made any effort to talk to me and try to reconcile our friendship. You were too concerned with covering up the truth: You're gay, and you were dating Seki." Taichi frowned and shook his head.

"You didn't make any effort to fix our friendship either, Matt." Yamato's eyes widened.

"Yes I did! It may have been indirect, but I definitely did! How many times did your sister talk to you about me?" Taichi raised an eyebrow. "How many times did you brush her off?" 

"My ears are ringing." Taichi and Yamato turned around quickly to see Hikari walk in the door and pull off her shoes. The young woman gave a half-smile and walked over to the two.

"It's good to see you two talking, but I'm curious as to how I got dragged into it." Yamato gave Hikari a guilty look and frowned.

"I was telling Tai that I tried to have you talk to him on my behalf." The brunette woman's eyes widened and she nodded.

"Oh." Hikari gave Yamato a questioning look. "So what's been said?"

"Nothing _big_." Yamato stressed the word 'big' and Hikari nodded subtlety, and then shook her head. 

"Alright then." Hikari then turned to walk to her room. She stopped mid-stride and spun around.

"Hey Tai . . ."

"Yeah?" Hikari smiled mischievously.

"Ask Yamato what I asked him at Daisuke's party during 'Truth or Dare.'"

Yamato, who had grabbed his soda and was in the middle of taking a sip, spat it out in a spray and started coughing. Hikari smiled sympathetically and left the room, leaving Taichi to stare at his blue-eyed friend. 

"Matt . . . what did she mean by that?" Yamato was visibly shaking, and shaking hard. Soda sloshed out of its can and onto the tile.

"I . . . She . . . " Taichi took a cautious step closer to his friend, and Yamato backed away, still shaking.

"Matt?" Part of Taichi didn't want to push the issue, but another part of him from somewhere deep in his subconscious simply needed to know. Hikari hardly ever said things that were unimportant, and Yamato's reaction to her statement had only fueled Taichi's curiosity.  

"I-Its nothing, Tai . . . Its nothing, _really_." Taichi narrowed his eyes.

"Then why are you shaking?"

"I-I'm not . . ."

"Bullshit!" Yamato cringed and Taichi, noticing, took a deep breath in order to calm down.

"Matt, what did Kari ask you?" His voice was too calm, too even, to be natural. It was a tone that Taichi rarely used, and Yamato recognized it for what it was. Taichi was determined to find out what the blonde was hiding, and there was no way that the sapphire-eyed boy was going to be able to walk out of the brunette's house without telling him what he wanted to know.

"Kari . . . she asked me . . ." Taichi crossed his arms in front of him as if to tell Yamato that he was waiting, and he was getting impatient. 

"She asked me if I was in love with you." 

Yamato took advantage of Taichi's wide, gaping, shock and ran out the door.

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Taichi shook the shocked look off of his face and yanked open the door, ran outside, and looked frantically for any trace of his blonde-haired friend. 

Seeing a retreating figure in a green school uniform, he took off running after the figure. Through the crowded streets he ran, in-between people who swore at him for not watching where he was going. Taichi couldn't watch where he was going.

He couldn't bring himself to care about the people he was shoving aside in his mad dash to catch his best friend. He couldn't care that he'd knocked over some poor woman carrying an asinine amount of shopping bags, and it didn't bother him when someone had to swerve out of the way to keep from running him over with his car, almost hitting a pole. 

The only thing he cared about was catching Yamato.

It was the only thing that mattered.

He continued running after the boy until the blonde tried to duck into an alleyway: an alleyway that led to nothing but a brick wall. 

Taichi turned into the alleyway to see Yamato punch the offending structure and fall to his knees. Tears streamed from sapphire eyes, and Taichi had to swallow hard to keep from crying himself. He never _did_ like seeing Yamato cry, and it bothered him even more that somehow, someway, _he_ was responsible for the blonde's tears. 

"M-Matt?" Taichi cautiously stepped closer to his friend, and hesitantly put a hand on the blue-eyed boy's shoulder. "Matt, talk to me."

Yamato's head whipped up and the blonde glared at the brunette. 

"I don't _want_ to talk to you, Tai! Not about _this_!" The blonde's breath came out in a staccato; Taichi grimaced at the miserable tone to his best friend's voice.  

"Matt . . . _please_ . . . tell me . . . tell me what's making you so upset. . . I don't like seeing you like this." Taichi's voice hitched and faltered; the brunette felt tears sting his eyes.

"I _can't_!" The blonde yelled and rose to his feet, knocking Taichi's hand off of his shoulder. Taichi bit his lip.

"You can't . . . or you won't?" 

"I . . ." Taichi frowned and stepped closer to his friend, looking him in the eye.

"Matt?" The brunette smiled encouragingly, but the blonde looked to his feet and shook his head, a few tears coming loose and landing with a 'pat' on the asphalt. Taichi had to swallow again: he knew if he started to cry that it would only make things worse.

Instead, he closed the distance between himself and his best friend and wrapped his arms around the blonde-haired boy. Yamato stiffened at the action at first, but then relaxed slightly and embraced the brunette. 

"Matt . . . I'm going to make this easier for you, okay?" Taichi felt the bearer of friendship tense back up. "Just answer yes or no. . ."

"Are you in love with me?" Yamato tightened his hold on Taichi, frightened that his answer would make this moment the last one that he would ever spend in the brunette's arms. Burying his face in his best friend's shoulder came his muffled reply.

"Yes."

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TBC

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A.N. well, how's that for a cliffy? Anyway, I'm super proud of this chapter. I think I did a pretty good job on it. 

Please let me know if you enjoyed it. ^_^ As always, more reviews, faster posts. ^_^

Ja ne!


	5. Chapter 5

Measures Misunderstood

Chapter 5

By Sailor Red

AN I apologize for the delay on this chapter. My computer decided to go on strike, first with modem failure, then with dumping its hard-drive. My only guess is that I picked up a virus. After that I became disillusioned and suffered from massive writer's block. When I thought I was finally ready to write again, in the beginning of March, one of my best friends (and my first love) got hit by an SUV and was nearly killed. Needless to say, this fic became the last thing on my mind throughout that month, as I was running back and forth to Boston from RI to see my friend. He is doing much better now, and my mindset is finally focused again. So without further ado, here's the long awaited fifth chapter of Measures Misunderstood.

Oh, and Digimon still doesn't belong to me. Go fig.

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Taichi felt as if his world had suddenly stopped, and found himself helpless and unable to comprehend his current situation. Here he was, his best friend clutching him like the earth would fall away should the brunette deny him, and Taichi didn't know how to respond.

He did care for his friend, knew that he would gladly risk it all for this man, but . . .

Did he love him? More importantly, was he _in love_ with him? He couldn't say yes for sure. Yamato, as dear to him as he was, had not been in his life for quite some time. 

Taichi knew that he _had _loved the blonde. The brunette had loved his sapphire-eyed friend at the time he decided to go out with Seki. Yet time could change so much, and loving someone and being in love with someone were two completely different things. 

So, realizing that he did not know what to say, Taichi became horribly nervous. If he didn't say anything, what would happen? What would happen if he did respond when he didn't know for sure what the truth was? He couldn't tell Yamato that he was unsure, could he? If he said something like that, Yamato would assume that that meant that Taichi was not in love with his blue-eyed companion: something Taichi wasn't even positive about. 

He simply didn't know.

"Ta-Tai?" Yamato loosened his grip on his brunette friend, and uncertainly looked up to meet brown-eyed confusion. The blonde swallowed and exhaled. 

"I" Taichi started. "I don't know what to say, Yama." The blonde's arms fell limp at his sides, and then were raised to rub tears out of blue eyes.

"Oh." Yamato bit his lip and stared at the random pieces of litter lining the deserted alley. They were quite fascinating actually: Fascinating in a way that everything looks brighter and more attractive when you're numb from an atom bomb disintegrating everything right before your eyes. 

"Yamato, I," Taichi sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "I _do_ care about you. I dare say I love you – but I don't know if I'm _in love_ with you. This off and on best friend thing – being in love with you or not hasn't crossed my mind since I haven't even talked to you much lately. But I," Taichi pulled the blonde closer to him and hugged him tightly; the blonde unresponsive and limp in his grasp. "I do know that I don't want to lose you again. I don't want to lose our friendship ever again." Taichi squeezed Yamato tighter. "I'm lost without you." 

Yamato tensed suddenly and Taichi looked at the blonde, confused.

The blonde wasn't looking at him, but rather something behind him, and Taichi felt his heart skid to a sick stop.

"Well isn't this fucking sweet" The voice was unfamiliar and menacing, cold and hardened. "I hope you fags have some cash, otherwise I'm gonna hafta break this little thing up with Betsy here." Taichi tried to turn around, but found himself falling onto pavement, his head hitting brick, and stars flooding his vision.

Yamato had pushed him.

Taichi tried to blink through his fading consciousness, and saw and heard only one thing as his world went black.

Betsy was not a person. Betsy was a gun. Betsy had just gone off.

Betsy was pointed at Yamato.

Taichi's nightmare had come true.

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Ammonia. 

Cotton Linen.

Beep.

Beep.

Gasp.

Cry.

Taichi opened his eyes to an unfamiliar ceiling, his vision blurry, and his head throbbing.

"Taichi!" It was a familiar voice, one he immediately recognized as his sister's. With that, he tried to sit up, but nausea threw him back down onto his bed.

His bed? No, this wasn't his bed. This wasn't his room. What had – 

Oh no.

"Yama . . ." Taichi croaked and looked to his sister. "Kari – what . . ."

"Shh." Hikari urged, staring at her brother with puffy red eyes, "Taichi, stay still. Do you know where you are?"

"Hospital?" The young woman smiled weakly.

"Yeah. You've got a concussion and a couple of bruised ribs." Taichi's brow furrowed in confusion.

"How'd my ribs get bruised?" Anger flashed through the girl's features.

"The mugger must've beaten you after he shot Yamato . . . before he ran." Taichi gulped. It was hard to talk, like he was drugged or something.

"I'm really dizzy."

"Yeah that'd be the morphine."

"Don't care. Yama, Kari . . . How's Yama?" The young woman bit her lip, and remained silent. 

"_Damn it, Kari!_" Taichi shouted. "Tell me!" Hikari took a deep breath and then exhaled.

"He's in ICU – lost a lot of blood. The bullet, well it missed his heart by about an inch. He's unconscious still, but the doc's doubt brain damage. He's running a high fever, so they're thinking there's some sort of infection. Well, he's not out of the woods yet."

"What else?"

"They won't let anyone see him, except for his family. The only info I get is from TK, and he's been in there for a few hours now. So I really don't know any more."

"I wanna see him." Taichi said flatly and started to sit up, ignoring the dizziness. 

"You can't Tai, I just said that."

"Don't care. Gonna anyway." Hikari narrowed her eyes at her brother.

"Lay back down or I'll get the nurse." 

"No."

"Taichi, I swear – " 

"Don't care."

"Tai!"

"Hikari, stop! He nearly died to save my life. He's my best friend. Not you, or any of these nurses or doctors is gonna stop me!"

"Yeah? Well I will." Takeru stood at the door, his arms crossed in front of him, the most serious expression Taichi had ever seen on the younger digidestined's face. "You're going to rip out your IV moving around like that." Takeru smiled softly. "Let me help you with the stand and I'll take you to see him."

"But TK!" Hikari exclaimed and the blonde boy shook his head.

"Yamato's awake – and being the stubborn person he is, he's getting his way. Of course I had to fight a few nurses for it, but they're allowing Taichi to see him for a few minutes." 

"Yeah?" Taichi said, a smile creeping up on his features. Takeru held up his hand.

"Yeah, but you have to go in a wheelchair. The doctors don't want you walking around until tomorrow." The blue-eyed boy turned to Hikari. "Tell your parents that I'm taking Taichi to see Yamato. We'll be back shortly." Hikari smiled weakly.

"You're taking this awfully well, TK." Takeru frowned.

"I'm kind of numb, actually. I'll be better when he is." Hikari nodded, and then paused. Silently she walked over to Takeru and wrapped her arms around him. Taichi smirked from his bed as he watched Takeru tense up and then relax, returning the hug and letting a few tears fall from his eyes. 

"Thanks Kari, I needed that." The young woman smiled.

"No problem."

"Yo! Lovebirds! My chariot please!" Taichi said loudly and nearly was able to laugh when the two released each other, blushing and mumbling to themselves.

"Uh, yeah." Takeru finally said, and with a bit of effort, got Taichi into his chair.

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"Can this elevator go any slower?" Takeru sighed and rubbed his temple. 

"Hey, I hit the button, not my fault it went up first." Taichi rolled his eyes.

"You went in the 'up' elevator TK, what did you think was going to happen?"

"Ok, Tai, why don't I just climb up, go through the hatch, and cut the cables. Then we'll go a _lot_ faster."

"Yeah, and we'd be dead."

"Then stop complaining."

"You're almost worse than your broth –" Yamato's father, who was staring at him from the open elevator door, cut off Taichi. The older man smirked at the brunette and then held the door open for Takeru and Taichi to get out.

"I believe this is your stop, boys. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm in dire need of a cigarette. I swear it's because of you kids that I -." The closing of the elevator door cut off the elder Ishida. Taichi sighed and turned to Takeru.

"Are we there yet?" 

"I'm not even going to dignify that question with a response. Just, uh, prepare yourself. He's pretty beat up." Taichi tried to think of something witty, but came up with nothing. All he could think of was all of the possible contraptions he might see on Yamato once he caught sight of the blonde. 

Taichi didn't have much time to think, as Takeru was starting to wheel him through the ICU, and motionless patients began filling his view.

If Yamato looked like them, Taichi was going to lose it, and he knew it. 

Taichi closed his eyes and inhaled, and when he opened them he found a sight most unwelcome. 

Yamato was attached to all types and sizes of machinery. Bags of blood, saline, and antibiotics hung grimly on an IV. A monitor watching his heart rate, blood pressure, and brain activity was mounted on the wall. There was no respirator, but there was an oxygen tube in his nostrils – and the young man looked paler than Taichi had ever seen his friend in his life. 

He looked half dead.

Takeru had gone silent as he pushed Taichi to Yamato's bedside, and Taichi bit his lip for loss of words and control of his stomach's reaction to vomit. This could not be happening. It couldn't be him.

"Nii-san?" Takeru said softly. "Ne, nii-san –" 

"Wanna see – TK you bring T-tai? I want to see him – okay. He is okay, right?" Taichi tried to hold back the tears from his eyes: Yamato sounded about as bad as he looked, the blonde's voice was raspy and heavily drugged.

"I'm here buddy." Taichi spoke without thinking, and then tried to pick himself up to his feet before nearly falling on the floor. TK had caught him by the shoulder, thankfully, and instead of lecturing him about staying in the chair, supported him so he could stand.

"Tai, you okay? Why's TK doing that?" Taichi cringed internally.

"You want the truth? Heh, who am I kidding 'course you do. Um, well – you pushed me out of the way and the brick wall gave me a concussion. I'm a little woozy." Yamato's eyes widened.

"I did that to you? Tai – I'm sorry, I –" Taichi laughed so hard in his nervousness he had to grab the metal bar on Yamato's hospital bed.

"Why are you sorry, Yama? So I got a concussion. You saved my life." Taichi then lost his mirth, realizing the situation and how nothing was funny about it. "I'm a lot more worried about you."

"Baka."

"Baka? Which one of us jumped in front of a bullet, huh?" Yamato smiled weakly.

"Yeah. That _was_ stupid, but . . ." The blonde looked away. "Didn't really think at the time." Taichi sighed and reached out to put his hand on the blue-eyed man's cheek, guiding Yamato to look at him. 

"Hey." Taichi said, smiling softly. "It may have been stupid, what you did and all, but things could've been much worse." Yamato scoffed at Taichi's statement.

"Whatever Tai, you're not the one in this bed." Taichi's eyes widened. 

"Yama, we could both be dead if you hadn't done what you did!" The blonde bit his lip.

"And we'd both be fine if I hadn't started talking to you again." The brunette's jaw dropped.

"That's not fair, Yama. I, for one, am glad we're talking again. I mean, things like this happen! You could've been run over by a car or something, and still been here." Taichi finally broke down. Tears came like waterfalls from chocolate eyes and dampened the brunette's shirt. "I meant it when I said I didn't want to lose you, you know. Hell, I was ready to beat down everyone in this ward to get to see you. How in the name of everything could you blame what happened to you on our friendship?"

"I don't blame our friendship Taichi. I blame –," Yamato looked at the brunette, then to his brother, sighed, and looked back at Taichi. "I blame my love for you." Takeru hardly looked surprised, and Taichi just looked upset. The brown-eyed man wiped his eyes roughly with the back of his wrist and growled.

"So, what you're saying is because you love me, we were attacked. How much fucking morphine are you on, exactly?" 

"That's not what I mean. I mean I wouldn't be here if I hadn't pushed you out of the way." Taichi grew livid.

"So then you wish I'd been killed?"

"No! I . . . shit. I don't know what I'm saying. Tai, I . . ."

"Look, Yama. Shit happens for a reason. Fate's measures are often misunderstood. Sure, we both got injured, but we're not dead. Life goes on. And I, for one, am not going to take what happened for granted." The brunette took a deep breath, then, noticing a stern looking doctor coming his way to complain of the noise, finished his statement.

"That discussion we were having, before we were so rudely interrupted . . . we'll finish it as soon as you get out of that bed." Taichi cracked a smile. "Oh and another thing. As soon as you recover, I'm going to punch your lights out for not letting _me_ take that bullet. I'd rather be stuck in a hospital than have you in one." 

With that, the brunette plopped back down in his chair and motioned for Takeru to move out. 

Yamato was left in shock, a grin on his face.

Damn, he loved that man.

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TBC

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Ok everybody, that's it for now. The next chapter will be up soon. Please review so I know people are still reading this. 

This chapter is dedicated to Square-Enix for shutting down FFXI for five hours yesterday – giving me motivation to write this installment. Oh, and if anyone's on the Unicorn server, let me know. We could play sometime. ^_^ My name? Well Sailorred of course. What else?


	6. Chapter 6

Measures Misunderstood

Chapter 6

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"So," Seki said. "When are you going to go see him?" Taichi looked up from the pile of books he was attempting to cram into his locker, and frowned.

"A couple of weeks . . . Mom went and grounded me for walking into strange alleyways – or something like that." Seki nodded.

"Well that sucks." The brown haired boy rolled his eyes.

"Tell me about it. Hikari's going up there with the rest of the group today, and I can't go." Taichi ran his hand through is hair and sighed. "I'm stuck going straight home from here and studying – and you know how much I love that." The bearer of courage slammed his locker shut using his body weight to hold the door closed, and quickly placed his combination lock in its place. He took a tentative step back and then nodded in satisfaction when the door stayed closed. Seki suppressed a snicker, and then shrugged.

"So – anyway, how's that head of yours doing?" The green-eyed man knocked softly on the brunette's skull and smirked. "Figure I should change the subject with you sulking like your cat just died." Taichi laughed

"Yeah – and I'm fine. I'm just a little worried about Yama – Yamato." Seki raised an eyebrow.

"Oooh! Check out the Freudian slip! That's too cute Tai-Tai!" Taichi thwacked his blonde friend on his head with his trusty spiral notebook.

"What did I say about the nicknames, Seki?"

"What did I say about you avoiding the issues, Taichi?" The two boys looked to each other and cracked up laughing.

"Alright, well, I'll see you tomorrow." Taichi said, smiling. "I have to get home before I lose my freedom for the rest of the month."

"Right, right, wouldn't want to keep you away from your 'Yama' any longer than needed, huh?" Taichi attempted to sputter an angry retort, but all that happened was a large gaping stare directed at his friend. Seki took this moment and turned on his heel to run away, waving as he made his escape. Taichi sighed and shouted:

"One of these days, Seki! One of these days!"

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"He's a little cranky today." Takeru said through a somewhat forced smile, and then motioned his group of friends into Yamato's room.

The bearer of friendship looked up from the newspaper he was holding and turned his gaze to the large group of people that had entered his room. He frowned.

"Where's Tai?" Hikari bit her lip and faked a wide grin.

"Oh, him? Mom grounded him for a month after what happened." She giggled nervously. "You should've seen him these last two weeks, it's like he's going crazy from all the boredom! I don't even want to know what he'll be like for the next two . . ." Takeru put his hand on Hikari's shoulder, then turned to Yamato.

"I'm sure everyone here wants to know how you're doing Onii-chan. Why don't you tell them?" Yamato rolled his eyes.

"Just peachy. I'm stuck here for another week or two, and now I find out that my best friend won't even be visiting me, so yeah . . . I'm just great."

"You're such a jerk!" Daisuke spoke up, clenching his fists. "We're just here, all worried about you and you don't care less!" Yamato's eyes widened and he began fiddling with the corner of his newspaper.

"No – Dai – I do, I just . . . you know, forget it." The blonde sighed. "Ok, well – there isn't much to tell really. I'm healing really well, according to the doctors, and they say I'll be going home very soon – which to them is a week or so – but . . ."

"But?" Sora coaxed, smiling weakly.

"I'm pissed. They haven't caught the bastard that did this to us, and I keep on reading the newspaper every day, only to get disappointed . . ."

"Actually Yamato," Koushirou started, and then switched his gaze to the television. "I heard a report on the radio on the way here . . . maybe it'll be on the local news?" The redhead mumbled and went about turning on the TV.

_"…and in other news, Watanabe Ichirou was captured during a hold up of a convenience store at 4:02 P.M. Watanabe is suspected of the attempted murder and mugging of two minors two weeks ago. This man's calling card is his prize weapon, a .45 named 'Betsy' that is engraved on the gun's handle. After he was read his rights, Watanabe exclaimed 'Yeah and Betsy and me got those two kids real good! I hope that blond little faggot never sees light again! Sick little _expletive deleted _like those should all die!' Watanabe is to be held without bail due to his violent and threatening manor. Channel 10 will keep you updated on this case" _

The moment the television was clicked off, the phone rang.

"I'll get it!" Hikari exclaimed, and picked up the receiver. "Ishida Yamato's room! Hikari speaking!"

"Kari, put Yama on the phone!" Hikari's eyes widened, and she turned her gaze to an expectant looking Yamato.

"Tai! You're going to be so dead if Mom catches you on the phone! What are you . . ." The young woman watched as the bearer of friendship's eyes widened.

"She stepped out for a sec, just put him on! Come on, Kari!" Hikari sighed and handed the phone to Yamato.

"Hello?"

"Hey did you hear? I mean, did you see on TV? They caught him! Isn't that great?" Yamato could practically see Taichi jumping up and down on the other end. The blonde cracked a smile.

"Yeah, it is."

"Hey, I'm sorry I can't be there . . . I really want to . . . oh crap! Here comes Mom, I got to go."

"That sucks."

"Oh! Before I do, when are you getting out of there?"

"Soon, like in two weeks. So I'll see you in school, now get off the phone before she grounds you from that too! Later man!"

"Yeah! Bye!" Yamato handed the receiver to Hikari who put it back on the hook.

"I don't know about him," she started. "He takes too many risks. He always has . . ." The woman mumbled before Jyou cut her off.

"He only does when it's necessary or important," The doctor to be said. "And I'd say the capture of that Watanabe guy is pretty big." Koushirou smiled and interrupted.

"He's always been rather impulsive. I can recall numerous times in the Digiworld when he acted on a whim – though I must agree with Jyou, his actions always resulted in some sort of big occurrence. I think he thought things through a lot more than he would let us believe."

"I think you guys are giving him far too much credit," Hikari said smiling. "I mean, come on, you're talking about a guy who can't even think out his own outfit for school – he wears a uniform for Christ's sake and still manages to foul it up." Takeru laughed.

"Yeah, I remember hearing your mother yell at him to button his shirt almost every time I've stopped by to walk you to – " Yamato burst out laughing.

"TK, you're walking her to school now? Man you really do have it bad!" Takeru turned scarlet and sputtered something unintelligible. Hikari bit her lip, and a few of the other kids chuckled.

"A-actually – " Hikari started and then looked to her feet. "He's not the only one." Takeru looked up so quickly the other digidestined thought his head would disconnect from his neck. Sora and Miyako clapped their hands giddily, Koushirou, Jyou, and Iori nodded knowingly, Daisuke pouted slightly, and Ken shot an unreadable look towards the leader of the second-generation digidestined. Yamato just shrugged. Hikari looked at everyone nervously.

"Don't tell Tai – " the young woman began. "But TK and I have been dating for almost a year now."

"No way!" Daisuke exclaimed. "I mean – well – I guess I should've seen it, but – you and TK? Man, Kari, you could do better!" Daisuke found himself assaulted by Yamato's (quite full) water pitcher, Takeru's hat, Hikari's camera, and Ken's handful of pocket change.

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Ken! You too? Man, the Kaiser is still hiding in there, isn't he?" A few of the kids caught a blush creeping up on Ken's cheeks as the blue haired boy went about picking a few of the coins he had thrown off of the ground. Daisuke shook his head and began wringing water out of his shirt. Yamato sighed.

"You both better treat each other well, and uh – congrats I guess. Oh and Daisuke why don't you be a nice kid and refill that pitcher I had to dispose of because of your little – comment." Yamato narrowed his eyes, and then chuckled a little. "You know – "

Yamato was interrupted by the door squeaking open on neglected hinges. The bearer of friendship's eyes lost their mirth as he glanced at the person in the doorway.

"Seki – What the hell are you doing here?"

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Jeez, ten points to the king of rude! Here I am, willingly playing middleman and what do I get?" Yamato rolled his eyes.

"So get it over with." Seki sighed and pulled an envelope out of his pocket, then handed it to Yamato.

"This is from Tai – and I wanted to talk to you about something rather – important – but, well I don't think you'd appreciate what I have to say, at least not in front of all these people." Yamato's eyes narrowed.

"These _people_ are my friends. Whatever you want to say can be said with them around." Seki shook his head, and then threw up his arms in exasperation.

"Man! You're so stubborn! What the hell is your problem with me, anyway? I never did a damn thing to you – you just treat me like dirt! I mean – shit, that's my phone." Seki fumbled in his pockets to pull out the offending ringing object, and then, seeing as there was a very limited signal, opened a window and stuck his head outside.

"Dude, I'm in the hospital visiting – what was that? Really? Oh that's too sweet! Well, yeah, moms do that – right. Uh huh . . . yeah man, I'll wait up . . . no, not pleased at all. Stubborn man that friend of – yeah yeah, I'll be good. So when are you going to be here? Thirty? You mean I have to hang out with him for . . . man you suck. I do not wish! Just get your ass over here Yagami. Man, you're a dork. Laters!" Seki popped his head back into the room, and grinned.

"What the hell are you doing with your cell on in a hospital? What if someone's heart monitor exploded or something – " Jyou began ranting and Seki rolled his eyes and shrugged.

"I forgot – anyway, my – err our, I guess – friend is on his way. Might want to fix your hair, Ishida." Yamato gave a flustered sputter.

"What the hell are you on about?" Seki sighed.

"Your hair looks like something crawled into – "

"I don't want to hear it – "

"Dude, that was Tai, he's going to be here in thirty minutes," Seki looked at his watch. "Though, ten to one, I bet he'll be here in 15 – he's been a little stir crazy after all." Hikari gasped.

"But he's grounded!" Seki laughed and turned to the younger Yagami.

"Your mom lifted it once she found out that Watanabe had been captured. Turned out she had only grounded him for his safety – she told him he could visit. So he's on his way."

"So now, why should I be fixing my hair just because he's coming?" Seki nearly burst out laughing at Yamato's comment wondering how in the world the blue-eyed man could think he was hiding anything from him.

"Oh please, Ishida – don't play dumb with me – "

"Seki – shut up." Yamato seethed and went about "absentmindedly" combing his fingers through his hair. "If I wanted your input, I'd beat it out of you."

" I don't care if you want my input or not, I'm going to give it to you. Just because I know more about your quote unquote best friend – oh!" Realization dawned on the emerald-eyed man. "_That's _why you hate me so much!" Yamato growled.

"IV or not, you say one more word and I'm going to – " the bearer of friendship was interrupted by the quick open swing of his door and a panting brunette rushing in.

"Hey! None of that, Yama-to," Taichi cursed under his breath and Seki giggled. "Say one word, Seki, just one and – "

"I wouldn't dream of pointing out your little impulsive speech, Tai-Tai." Taichi growled playfully and grabbed Seki in a headlock, giving the green-eyed man a rough noogie.

"What did I say about calling me that!" Taichi looked up from his current position, arm still mock choking Seki's neck, and waved with the hand formerly grinding into Seki's head.

"Hey Matt! How ya doing?"

"He's fine enough to threaten me, I'd say he's good. Now let go Tai!" Seki said laughing. Taichi obliged and Seki went about patting his shirt of its invisible dirt. "Can I go now, your highness? While I'd love to stay and chat with Ishida, I've got homework to do." Taichi smiled.

"Yeah, I'll be copying that tomorrow morning."

"Like hell you will!" Seki grinned "Later, Tai-Tai!" The emerald-eyed man said and ran before the spiky haired brunette could retaliate.

"So, anyway," Taichi began. "Hey! What's up with Dai being all soaked?" Hikari and Takeru looked at each other nervously, while most of the others busied themselves with other random activities: looking at the ceiling, wringing their hands, etc.

"Dai was being Dai, so I threw my water pitcher at him." Yamato said and shrugged. "Don't even remember why, it just seemed like something to do." Taichi frowned at his friend.

"You're lying." He stated matter-of-factly. "Your eye twitches a little when you're not telling me the truth." Taichi smiled at Yamato's shocked expression and continued. "So, what are you guys hiding from me – or what do you guys _think_ you're hiding from me?" The bearer of courage looked around the room expectantly and sighed when no one answered. Noticing Hikari fidgeting, he turned to her and looked her dead in the eye.

"Ok, Kari. Spill." The younger Yagami frowned and bit her lip as she examined her nails.

"Promise you won't go ballistic?" Taichi blanched.

"You're not pregnant, are you?" The young woman turned bright scarlet.

"_No!_" Taichi nodded.

"Ok, then no one dies." After a pointed look at Takeru, realization dawned on the rest of the digidestined. As the gasps sounded through the room, Taichi's eyes widened in shock.

"Aw, man – don't tell me that's it! I thought it was something juicy! Oh my god – " The brunette man said sarcastically. "Kari and TK are going out. Man, I must've known that for what – " Taichi counted his fingers mockingly. "At least seven months." Hikari smiled broadly.

"You mean you're not mad? You're not going to kill him?" Taichi laughed.

"I kind of would've by now if I was – oh, so now I get Mr. Soaking Wet Daisuke – he said something about TK when he found out, huh?" The chocolate-eyed man punched Daisuke lightly in the shoulder. "Man, you should know better than to badmouth TK when Matt's around." Daisuke smiled sheepishly.

"I guess, but it's just too much fun!" The mahogany haired goggle boy said, and then cringed as Yamato held up his newly filled pitcher once more. "Ok, ok! Really though, I'm happy for you two. I got over that crush on Kari a while ago – it's just habit to bash the kid – sorry man." Takeru smiled.

"Apology accepted . . . I think."

"Well, now that that mystery's settled – " Taichi began, and then sat himself on the side of Yamato's bed. He looked to the bearer of friendship and smiled widely. "You seem to be looking pretty good, Matt!" Pink started to color Yamato's face, and the blonde looked away from Taichi's smile before responding.

"Yeah, I'm a lot better. Now, I just can't wait to get out of here." The blonde fiddled with his bed sheet, a slow, soft smile began on his face as he raised his head to meet Taichi's eyes. "There's something important I have to do as soon as I can leave this hospital."

Sparkling sapphire eyes entranced chocolate brown, until the brunette realized he was staring and quickly looked away. Taichi shook his head as if to clear it, which unfortunately for him, didn't seem to work. The brunette's thoughtful smile and the slow reddening of his cheeks quite nearly gave him away. He excused himself to use the bathroom, saying he was warm and wanted to wash his face. Staring at his reflection in the mirror, he sighed and shook his head.

One more second staring into those eyes – and he would have kissed Yamato – right in front of everybody.

As Taichi went about soaking a paper towel with water and dabbing his face, he came to a realization.

Kissing Ishida Yamato was not a bad idea – no, it wasn't bad at all . . .

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

TBC

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Alright! Done with the chapter that didn't want to finish! Nice and long for ya! So, I threw in a bit of Takari, and hinted at Daiken. Next chapter should see Yamato out of the hospital, which means those two are going to have to have their little talk! So anyway, please review – I need it!


	7. Chapter 7

Measures Misunderstood

By Sailor Red

Chapter 7

Disclaimer: Digimon still doesn't belong to me

AN: Well, I must be the biggest jerk in the world for making you guys wait so long for an update. If I even have readers left, I'll be surprised. (Quite pleasantly, at that) There are many reasons that I haven't updated in such a long time, but I'd rather not get into them.

I'm sure you all would rather see the next chapter, rather than listening to my rambling, anyway. So without further ado . . .

* * *

Seki sulkily shifted from his leaning position next to the guidance office door and scowled. Repeatedly, he reminded himself that he was doing this . . . this _thing_, for Taichi. There was nothing more the emerald eyed man wished for than the happiness of his brunette friend. It was the one thing, the only thing, that would have him standing here, twenty minutes after the end of classes, waiting for the only man he had ever considered a rival.

Earlier in the school day, right before lunch, the head of the science department had come into his biology class and quietly asked the teacher for the previous weeks worth of classwork for one, Ishida Yamato. The higher ranking teacher informed Seki's sensei that Ishida required his next batch of make up work, as he was to come in and meet with the guidance counselor after school let out. When the lower teacher asked when he could be expecting his student back in his classroom, the other man answered, "As early as tomorrow."

Seki's head had popped up at this, and he had frowned. It was time, then. He had to confront the other man and tell him what he had wanted to speak to him about back in the hospital. Yes, it was indeed, time.

It was time to give up Taichi.

Seki came back to present time and brought his fist back to punch the wall behind him.

"Dammit!" he swore, and bit his lower lip.

"What the hell are you doing here?" The green-eyed man raised his head so quickly it made him dizzy, and he flinched as Yamato slammed the door out of which he had just exited. Narrowing his eyes and steeling his resolve, Seki straightened his posture only to put his hands in his pockets.

"There's something I need to talk to you about." Yamato folded his arms across his chest and glared at the other blonde.

"There's nothing I want to say to you." Seki yanked a hand out of one of his pockets and clenched his fist in frustration.

"Then shut up, and _listen_. You don't have to _say_ anything." The sapphire-eyed man smirked cruelly, turned around, and began to walk away.

"This is a waste of my time. Later."

Seki snapped.

"You . . . You were right to be jealous!" Yamato froze, mid-stride, his eyes widening in shock. "I _do_ still love him. I do . . ." Seki let his clenched hand fall to his side and bowed his head, stray wisps of hair that had freed themselves of his ponytail falling to cover his eyes. Yamato slowly turned around, his eyes remaining wide, and opened his mouth to speak. Seki raised his head, tears in the corners of his emerald eyes, and held up an open hand to silence the blue-eyed man. "I do love him . . . very much. That's why . . . that's why I have to let him go." Yamato blinked.

"You . . ." Seki swallowed hard.

"He's in love with you, ya know." At Yamato's sharp intake of breath, Seki smiled sadly. "He doesn't know it, of course . . . Taichi . . . he's really dense about that kind of thing. I'm sure of it . . . I'm . . ." The tears Seki had been trying to hold back fell, and he lifted a shaking hand to wipe them away as best he could. "I'm positive."

"S-seki . . ."

"The thing I wanted to talk to you about . . ." Emerald eyes focused on floor tile. "The reason Taichi and I went out for only a month . . ."

"Seki, you don't have to say . . ." A blonde ponytail whipped up and a fist clenched.

"Yes, I do! So . . ." he faltered. "So, please, just listen . . . ok?" Yamato opened his mouth as if to say something, but stopped.

He nodded, and Seki smiled weakly.

"Alright, then." Seki sighed, and went back to lean on the wall. "Taichi and I . . . we agreed to tell everyone that our break-up was mutual . . . when really . . ."

* * *

_**Flashback**_

* * *

"Ne, Tai-chan . . ." Seki began, and glanced up from the magazine he was looking through. The brunette smiled in acknowledgment and looked to his blond boyfriend.

"What's up?" The green-eyed boy bit his lower lip nervously, shut his magazine, and sat down on the couch next to Taichi.

"I was reading this article . . . about, ya know, couples and stuff . . . and well . . ." Taichi, who was previously slouching on the couch and watching TV, quickly shut the television off and sat up straight. There was something about Seki's tone that seemed . . . odd. The emerald-eyed man was normally giddy and flamboyant, but this . . . this side of him was something he'd only seen once before. This was the side of Seki that asked Taichi out in the first place. . . his . . . serious side.

"I was wondering . . . Tai-chan . . ." the blond sighed. "The article said that most couples kissed by the second date . . . and we've been together for nearly a month . . . and . . ." Seki looked away from shocked brown eyes, his frown deepening. There was something else that Seki saw in those chocolate eyes, something that made his heart sink into his stomach.

Guilt. Beyond the shock, there it was . . . unmistakable, horrible, sympathetic, _guilt._

"Seki . . . I . . ." Taichi took a deep breath. "I have to tell you something." The emerald-eyed boy tried to swallow the lump that seemed to be lodged in his throat. It was hard to breathe. "I like you, Seki, I really do . . . you're an awesome friend, and a great guy to be around . . . but . . ." The brunette flinched at the hurt in his friend's green eyes, but forced himself to continue. "The truth is . . . I always thought . . . I always thought that someone's first kiss should be with someone they were, ya know, hopelessly in love with. . . and dating is all well and good, but . . ." Seki's eyes widened.

"Wait a minute, Tai! Are you meaning to tell me . . . you've never _been_ kissed before?" Taichi put his hand behind his head and laughed nervously.

"Er . . . no. I'm kinda . . . saving it . . . for when I find that special person . . ." Seki smiled weakly.

"Then . . . I guess I'm not him, huh?" Taichi's newfound interest of his sneakers was all the answer the emerald-eyed boy needed. The blond gulped down the lump in his throat, took a deep breath, and threw his mask back on. Seki would deal with his tears, with his broken heart, later. Right now, he had to make sure of one thing. There was only one thing that was important at all, now.

"Ne, Taichi-kun . . ." The chocolate-eyed boy raised his gaze to look at Seki, fear written across the brunette's features. This made the blond pause. Here was one of the bravest people Seki had ever known, or probably ever would know . . . and he was afraid. Why was he . . . Seki shook his head. "Taichi-kun . . . I think we're kinda breaking up." The green-eyed boy forced a smile; he forced himself to act like it was no big deal. The only problem was . . . that fear in Taichi's eyes was still there. Seki wanted it gone.

"So . . . you wouldn't mind just being one of my best buddies, would you? Really, I'd hate to see us let something stupid like being boyfriends screw up such a great friendship . . . ne? What do you think, Tai-chan?"

The frightened look on Taichi's face completely dissipated, and was replaced by an enormous grin.

"Definately!" The chocolate-eyed boy exclaimed. "Just one thing . . ."

Seki raised an eyebrow as comically as he could in his current emotional condition.

"What's that, Tai-ch . . ." Taichi laughed and playfully punched the blond on the shoulder.

"Quit calling me Tai-chan . . . it's too . . . feminine . . ." Seki laughed.

He would be OK.

* * *

_**End Flashback **_

* * *

Five minutes after Seki had finished his retelling of events two years previous, Yamato finally got the courage to say something.

"I . . . I'm sorry." The green-eyed man snorted at the apology of his reluctant social companion, and pushed himself off of the wall.

"I don't need your sympathy, Ishida. I'm not fond of being pitied. That's not what this is about." Seki clenched his hands in fists at his side. "This whole thing . . . it's all about Taichi, and my wish for his happiness. For some reason, which," The emerald-eyed man fixed a glare on his face, and directed it towards the sapphire hues of Yamato's eyes. "which I'll never understand, Taichi seems to be smitten with you." Yamato stuffed his hands in his pockets.

"So you say, Seki. As much as I trust, or don't trust, your insight . . . your math doesn't seem to add up. What does your little tale of woe have to do with Taichi's feelings for me? There's something you're not saying . . ." Seki made an agitated noise in the back of his throat. .

"Look, telling you all of this isn't exactly easy. As a matter of fact, letting you in on this next little piece of information is what's going to make me screw up my friendship with Taichi. So, excuse me if it's taking me a little while to gain enough courage to betray the trust of someone of which I'm rather fond . . . uh . . . Ishida . . . what's with the sudden look?"

Yamato's eyes had gone rather wide, and Seki froze as a chill ran down his spine.

Taichi's voice came from behind the green-eyed man, and it did not sound pleased.

"What the _hell_ is going on?"

* * *

TBC

AN2: I realize this is short, and for that I'm sorry. My brainstorming skills are terribly rusty. Something is better than nothing though, right? I'm going to wrap up this fic as soon as I possibly can. There should only be two more chapters left. Once again, I realize how much I suck for not updating in so long . . . now I've left you with a cliffhanger.

I'm an evil, evil woman. Well, my next day off is next Monday, so . . . Tuesday night, perhaps? I certainly hope so . . .


	8. Chapter 8

Measures Misunderstood

Chapter 8

By Sailor Red

AN: Another short chapter, but it's something. This fic is really hard for me to write, as my style has changed drastically since I began - and it wouldn't be in good taste to change the flow of this piece. So, not only must I finish it, but I must also go back to my writing style of two years ago. I'm trying. I will not abandon it, but updates will remain scattered. Sorry. I'd love to have more time to write, but I simply don't. Please review. It's encouraging.

* * *

Taichi had been having an awesome day. He'd done well on a test, had gotten confirmation from Seki at lunch on the rumor that Yamato would be returning to school tomorrow, and had shot two goals in soccer practice – on a training exercise that pitted him against his entire team.

Yes, Taichi was on top of the world . . . until he stepped out of the locker room and was nearly run into by Ken.

"T-taichi!" The blue haired boy said in a breathless tone, clutching his chest and panting. The brunette raised an eyebrow and waited for Ken to compose himself. "Taichi!" Ken grabbed the older boy's arm. "Daisuke's fighting with someone from the other school's team! He's . . ." At the look of alarm in Ken's eyes, Taichi nodded and followed the frightened young man to the fence surrounding the soccer field.

Daisuke was sporting a fat lip and a bruise on his right arm, when Taichi and Ken got to the mahogany haired boy. Said boy was about to throw a punch at the kid he had pinned against the fence by the neck, when Taichi stepped up and caught Daisuke by the wrist.

"Cut it out, Dai." The younger man's eyes widened and he turned his angry gaze at his idol.

"This asshole was spying on our practice! He insulted you, and Ken, and . . ." Taichi stood firm and tightened his grip.

"Let him go. It's not worth it." Gritting his teeth and shooting the kid a pointed glare, Daisuke finally released his hold on the boy. Taking one look at the three angry people in front of him, the guy made the only intelligent choice: he ran.

Daisuke sneered at the back of the retreating boy and then turned to Taichi and Ken, hand behind his head and laughing nervously.

"I fail to see what's funny about this situation, Motomiya." Daisuke's eyes widened. That voice was neither Taichi's nor Ken's. It was the teacher in charge of the athletic department.

"Yagami." Taichi looked to the sports head. "Escort Motomiya to the guidance office. I'll have your coach meet with him as soon as possible to discus punishment . . . for his . . . impulsiveness." Taichi grimaced and turned to Daisuke, nodding his head to the side and motioning the boy with a silent 'let's go.'

The younger man hung his head shamefully, cursed under his breath, and went to follow Taichi.

Ken watched the two walk off, a frown on his face.

* * *

"Daisuke, you really have to get your temper under control." Taichi said, shaking his head as the younger man followed him – two steps behind, his head hung low. "This isn't the Digital World, these are real people. You can't just go and punch them because they piss you off." The mahogany haired boy clenched his fist and shot his head up to look at Taichi.

"Like you never hit Matt for making you mad . . ." Taichi smirked.

"Of course I did, but that's different."

"How . . ."

"First, I was young and didn't know any better. Second, he was being a self-righteous dick, and finally . . . well . . ."

Smiling mischievously, Daisuke playfully punched Taichi on his shoulder.

"Kinda like that?" The original bearer of courage raised an eyebrow.

"That made no sense at all, Dai." Daisuke stuck his tongue out at Taichi and then pouted.

"It did, so! I meant . . . I meant that even though you were mad at him, and you wanted to hit him, there wasn't any . . . er . . . you didn't actually want to hurt him. Kinda like . . . a playful punch . . . that's what you're saying right? Playful punches are cool, but punches that are out to hurt someone, aren't." Taichi laughed.

"Yeah, that's what I was getting at. . . though, back in the Digital World, those times I punched Matt were pretty violent. But, then again, I was young.

"Huh. Well, ok Tai, whatever you say, oh hey, down the hall . . . isn't that your annoying friend?" The original bearer of courage peeked in the direction that Daisuke was speaking of and smirked.

"No, that's Seki . . . my annoying friend is standing in front of me." Confusion lining his features, Daisuke looked around himself for the person Taichi was talking about. Realization dawning on his face the mahogany haired boy narrowed his eyes.

"Hey! You're talking about me!" Giving Daisuke's hair a quick rustle, Taichi smiled and began to walk towards Seki, who was coincidentally standing near the corner he had to turn to get to the guidance office. He stopped mid-stride however, about to poke the emerald-eyed man's shoulder, when he saw that Seki was not alone. Not just that he wasn't alone, Seki was standing with his fists clenched and talking through gritted teeth to none other than one, Ishida Yamato.

". . . letting you in on this next little piece of information is what's going to make me screw up my friendship with Taichi . . ." Taichi lowered his hand and glared at the back of his friend, the smile fading off his face and being replaced with an earnest frown.

". . . So, excuse me if its taking me a little while to gain enough courage to betray the trust of someone of which I'm rather fond . . ."

Taichi's heart did an sick flip. The bearer of courage narrowed his eyes as he watched the keeper of friendship's sapphire eyes widen.

"Uh . . . Ishida. . . what's with the sudden look?"

Seki had seemed to have gone rigid as Taichi shot an icy look at his back.

"What the hell is going on?" Taichi growled.

Slowly, Seki turned to look at the person behind him, a look of abject horror written across his face.

Taichi saw Daisuke's eyes dart from Seki, to Yamato, and then to Taichi. The leader of the second generation digi-destined bit his lip and then walked to the guidance office door.

". . . I'll just go and see the counselor lady . . . er . . . yeah. . ." with that, he quickly opened the door and ran inside the office.

Giving Daisuke a quick nod, Taichi turned to Seki and folded his arms across his chest.

"Well?" Seki visibly gulped as Taichi stared him down.

"It's not like you think, Tai -" Seki began, waving his hands in front of himself.

"I don't know what I'm supposed to think, I don't know what's going on, all I know is that I overheard you say something about wrecking our friendship. So, what the hell do you think you can tell Yamato that's bad enough to do that, huh?"

The tension in the hall was tangible until something seemed to come over Seki. The emerald-eyed man suddenly stopped looking nervous and afraid. Instead, he was resolute . . . like he'd just made some sort of internal decision - and it quite plainly said: "Fuck it. This is something I have to do. There's no turning back!"

"I was about to tell Yamato what you confided to me at lunch yesterday." Taichi's eyes widened.

"Wait . . . Seki . . ."

"I was going to tell him that you said . . . that you had wanted to kiss him . . . back when he was in the hospital."

"_The truth is . . . I always thought . . . I always thought that someone's first kiss should be with someone they were, ya know, hopelessly in love with. . . "_

"_Wait a minute, Tai! Are you meaning to tell me . . . you've never been kissed before?"_

"_Er . . . no. I'm kinda . . . saving it . . . for when I find that special person . . ."_

"Seki . . . stop . . ." Taichi took a step back and nearly lost his footing. The brunet digi-destined looked over quickly to Yamato - the sapphire eyed man was literally shaking.

"I also told him . . . before you showed up . . . " Seki said, slowly losing his nerve, "about your reasons for not kissing me while we were dating . . ."

Taichi had never felt so vulnerable in his life. Everything was out in the open now. . . and Taichi knew he wasn't ready for it to be so. If he had been ready, he would have told Yamato himself. After so many years of not talking to his digital comrade, there were changes that had to be taken into account. There were things about each other that were either different, new, or unknown . . . he needed to get to know his best friend again before he could even _think_ of getting into something more.

God dammit, he was scared! He could look demonic digimon in the face without fear; he could cheer on a group of people and their monsters as they beat armies into digital dust. . . but faced with the idea of Yamato, the possibility of having fallen in love with him, and all that could and or would happen from such a monumental event . . .

Yagami Taichi was fucking terrified.

Terrified people are known to run.

So, crest of courage be damned, Taichi did just that.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: After the 7 years it took for me to start this fic, and the four years break in between Ch 8, and this. . . I STILL don't own Digimon.

AN Feel free to reread the other chapters if you don't remember this fic; I don't blame you as I had to reread them in order to pick this up again. It's also a good laugh . . . the difference in my writing style and ability between the first and this chapter is just amazing.

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Measures Misunderstood

Chapter 9

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Running was something that Taichi would rarely do . . . he usually was the first to stand his ground, to be the protector – the pillar of strength. That however, now seemed to be more the case when he was protecting someone else, when he had to be strong for someone who couldn't be strong for themselves.

The tables had turned now.

It turned out that Taichi, with all the courage that he possessed, just wasn't able to harness it for himself. Not when, suddenly, he found himself in a situation he was _completely_ unfamiliar with. Seki . . .

Seki . . . was always more observant than he was about these sorts of things. Should it be a surprise that he might have figured out something Taichi had been struggling with for years? No, probably not.

Damn, his methods sucked though.

Taichi came to a halt inside the gymnasium locker rooms. Shutting the door, he walked to one of the benches and plopped down, elbows on his knees and head in his hands.

Was he _in love_ with Yamato? He was probably just about the most important person in Taichi's world, sure, but did that mean he was in love with him? Seki sure seemed to think so. The green-eyed man had put two and two together, and it wasn't really difficult for Taichi to see how his ex had come to the conclusion he had.

After all, Taichi's memory of waking up in a hospital bed, knowing that Yamato was hurt – could even be dead, was still _very_ fresh in his mind. The desperation he felt upon waking, not seeing his sapphire-eyed friend, but only his sister's red rimmed eyes – he had been more terrified than he had ever been in his life. Even after not being friends for so long, after his foolish overreaction caused such a chasm between them . . . he couldn't even begin to imagine an existence where Yamato had ceased to be.

They'd always been there for each other. Although it'd been rocky at the start – fists flying, angry words, and just silly bickering – the friendship they had forged throughout their time in the digital world and beyond was something extraordinary. Though, friendship was one thing. He could handle that. The thought that he'd actually fallen in love with the man . . . it was frightening.

Their friendship, which had lasted through so much . . . that was so strong that they could pick it up again like a two year fight had never even happened . . . what if it wasn't strong enough to survive a relationship? Relationships dissolve, people break up, hearts get broken . . . if he were to get into something like that with Yamato and things went awry, would they be able to recover their friendship then? It was, after all, the _most_ important thing that Taichi wanted to always hold onto. Not having Yamato in his life again was unthinkable.

But, dammit, Seki was right. Taichi wanted to hold Yamato, to kiss him, to have the first thing he saw in the morning be a couple of sapphire eyes looking at him warmly. He wanted to find out how soft Yamato's hair really was, to smell his shampoo, to give him random hugs from behind and place affectionate brushes of lips on his neck. . .

Fine. Okay. So he was in love with him.

But the risks . . .

A soccer ball rolled out from under the bench Taichi was sitting on, and frustrated, the boy kicked the black and white object with as much force as he could muster. Unfortunately, the sound that came when the ball ceased moving wasn't the expected bounce off of concrete.

"I thought I'd find you he . . . OOF!" Taichi shot up off the bench, eyes widening in surprise.

"Shit! Seki!" Seki coughed, squinted his eyes and clutched his stomach, putting his other hand on the wall for support. Taichi ran over to his friend and put his hand on the other boy's back.

"Suppose I deserved that. Damn, Tai-tai, no wonder you're the captain . . . you kick like a friggen Rockette." Emerald eyes shone with a bit of mirth, and the blond managed a smirk through his grimace.

"I'm not THAT gay, Seki . . . and . . . and I didn't mean to hit anyone. Didn't expect anyone to come in . . ." Seki rolled his eyes.

"Oh please . . . after what just happened, you _really_ didn't think one of us was going to find you? Ishida was freakin' pissed that he couldn't . . . his dad came up right after you ran off and dragged him away. Could hear him arguing with his pops almost all the way to the door." Groaning, Seki pushed himself to standing independently. He shook his head. "So . . . Tai . . . on a scale of one to ten . . . how pissed are you right now?"

Taichi blinked, sighed, took his hand off his friend's back, and walked over to sit back down on the bench. He patted the space next to him and Seki joined him.

"I'm not . . . mad, really. I'm just, I don't know . . ." Seki blinked.

"Really? You mean you don't hate my guts for what I did?"

"No dude. Really. You were just being you and trying to help me out . . . you knew more about what I wanted than I did . . . again." Taichi put his thumb to his mouth and bit his nail in thought. "I think I should be apologizing to you . . ."

"Say what? Tai-tai, what the hell would you need to apologize to me for? I mean, I pretty much shoved your feelings out in the open . . . both to Ishida and to you . . . when you obviously weren't ready for them to be thrown out there, and . . ."

"And," Taichi interrupted "You basically slapped me upside the head and woke me up from denial-ville . . . even though . . ." At this, the brunet's voice softened. "Even though I know you still have feelings for me, and if I got with Yama . . . it'd basically mean you'd have, well, lost in a way."

Seki sighed and kicked at the floor tiles at which he was sadly staring.

"Yeah . . . man, you're all dense about this Ishida thing but you noticed I still . . ." Taichi shook his head and smirked.

"Nah. I didn't notice . . . I am that dense . . . but I heard you say it to Yama when I was walking Daisuke to the guidance office . . . I just didn't fit your voice to the words 'til I started running . . . while I was thinking about the whole thing."

"Oh." Taichi's gut clenched and his heart sank at the depressed sound of his normally cheerful friend's voice. He reached over to the other and tilted Seki's chin up from its fixed gaze at the floor, forcing emerald eyes to look at him. The brunet bit his lip, seeing the utterly melancholy look on Seki's face . . . the blond was practically in tears.

"Hey . . . Seki . . . you do know that . . ." Taichi sighed. "As probably one of the very best friends I've ever had, that I do love you . . . right?" At this, the dam that was holding back Seki's tears broke and Taichi leaned over to hug the broken boy, letting him cry on his shoulder.

"I . . . Taichi, I was so freakin' scared. I . . . I thought you were going to hate me after all this." He sniffed. "I thought after our whole relationship thing and then the breakup and then me trying to play matchmaker with you and Ishida . . . that I was going to lose you and our friendship and . . ."

Taichi gasped. Wasn't this whole thing that he was currently going through with Seki just the thing he was worried about with getting into a relationship with Yamato? His breakup with Seki hadn't killed their friendship . . . It was awkward at times, yes, but never in a million years would he even think of not wanting him as a friend . . . when it all came down to it, Seki was an awesome friend, and Yamato . . .

Well, it was almost an insult to his and Yamato's friendship to think that more love could possibly _hurt_ their relationship. His friendship with Yamato was so unbelievably strong . . . if something would happen in any . . . romantic relationship they might choose to pursue . . . they could make it through and still be friends. Forget could . . . Taichi _would_ make it work if things went downhill. He managed to make it work with Seki; of _course_ he could make it work with Yamato.

Not thinking, with a great big grin, he absolutely squeezed Seki . . .

"OW! Dude! Soccer ball of doom ring a bell?" Taichi released him, rubbed the back of his head and chuckled nervously.

"Sorr . . ."

"Thank you." Interrupted Seki, "I really needed that hug . . . not so much the ow part, but, you know." Standing up and stretching through a small wince, Seki smiled.

"Okay Taichi, back to business . . . Ishida's going to be back in school Monday. . . I overheard the teacher say he was going to be here tomorrow, but seeing as that's Saturday, I'm just going to guess the guy didn't know what day of the week it was . . . and normally, I'd bug you to go run to his house and profess your undying love to him right now, but . . ." The boy smirked semi-evilly.

"I have an uber cute, super sweet, freakin' fantastic idea for your little reunion . . . may get you punched in the face, but I'm . . ." Emerald-eyed eyelashes fluttered over dramatically as the boy put his hand to his heart and smiled. "I'm willing to take that risk."

Taichi turned a shade paler as Seki dragged him out of the locker room. This . . . this was going to be interesting.

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TBC

AN2 I was going to finish this up with this update, but I promised on my profile page that this fic would be updated by today. The next chapter will be up soon; it's already half written. I promise.


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